


important people

by idontreallylikebutterflies (Laulerelelere)



Category: You Could Make a Life Series - Taylor Fitzpatrick
Genre: Charlie loves Jaya so much it's kind of ridiculous, Coming Out, F/F, First Kiss, Friendship, Jaya and Charlie love each other a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-23 18:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11407731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laulerelelere/pseuds/idontreallylikebutterflies
Summary: ''‘’What do you think of our new teammate?’’ Charlie asks. ‘’Wait, what was her name? Emma? Emily?’’‘’I don’t know, everyone called her Em,’’ Jaya says, and then adds, ‘’But she was pretty, don’t you think?’’‘’I don’t know.’’ Charlie shrugs, like she doesn’t really care. Which, to be fair, she probably doesn’t. Jaya is the gay one here.  ‘’I want to know your opinion on her hockey, who cares that she’s pretty?’’‘’I care,’’ Jaya says, and before she can chicken out, she adds, ‘’I am a lesbian.’’''Jaya comes out to Charlie. Charlie asks for a kiss.





	important people

Charlie is a really passionate person, even at 14. Jaya could say that meanly, has said it in the past when Charlie and her were mad at each other, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Charlie’s way of loving people is arguing with them constantly, angrily supporting them and angrily telling them off when she thinks they’re wrong, which may or may not be all the time. So Charlie’s not a bad person, Jaya knows this, but it’s hard to remember it when Charlie is screaming at her little brother or at her parents because they’re not doing what she wants them to do.

Charlie doesn’t usually scream at her, luckily, but they do get mad at each other. Sometimes it’s about little things, like Jaya telling Charlie that she shouldn’t dye her hair just because she thinks that her dad will freak out about it. Those times, Charlie usually frowns and tells her that she’s wrong, but she also ends up listening to her, so Jaya is not going to actually complain.

Sometimes the fights seem huge and need days to end. Those fights are usually about hockey, because they both love hockey and don’t like losing, which is a bad combination. Charlie is a really bad loser and there are times where she will try to blame losing on whoever she has closer, which means that she will either blame Jaya or anyone else on the team. When it’s on Jaya, she needs to remind Charlie that hockey is a team sport. When it’s on anyone else, Jaya also needs to do that, but yelling, because it’s okay when Charlie gets mad at Jaya because she’s used to it, but the rest of the team aren’t, or well. They are, but they are ‘’I see you almost every day and we talk for a bit’’ used to it, not ‘’I’ve known you for years’’ used to it, so Jaya thinks that it’s unfair when they have to deal with Charlie’s anger.

But whatever is making Charlie angry, she’s never quiet about it. She screams, complains, storms off, and does it all loudly. She doesn’t allow people to ignore the fact that she’s mad at them.

That’s why the radio silence when Jaya comes out to Charlie is a surprise.

***

When Jaya comes out to Charlie she’s not as nervous as she knows she will be when she tells her own parents. It’s partly because her parents are scary, but mostly it is because Charlie was raised by two dads who had to stand up against homophobia their whole careers as hockey players. They didn’t raise her to be a homophobe.

They’re doing homework together, just back from high school, and Jaya is laying on her bed, trying to build up the nerve to actually tell her.

‘’So, look, I’m not saying that I know more about hockey than our coach,’’ Charlie is saying. ‘’I would be crazy if I did so. What I’m actually saying is that sometimes she decides things that even Leon would know are wrong, so—’’

‘’Charlie,’’ Jaya starts, and Charlie must think that she’s disagreeing with her, because she frowns, but starts talking about other things.

‘’What do you think of our new teammate?’’ Charlie asks. ‘’Wait, how was she called? Emma? Emily?’’

‘’I don’t know, everyone called her Em,’’ Jaya says, honest, and adds, ‘’But she was pretty, don’t you think?’’

‘’I don’t know.’’ Charlie shrugs, like she doesn’t really care. Which, to be fair, she probably doesn’t. Jaya is the gay one here.  ‘’I want to know your opinion on her hockey, who cares that she’s pretty?’’

‘’I care,’’ Jaya says, and before she can chicken out, she adds, ‘’I am a lesbian.’’

‘’Oh, cool,’’ Charlie says. ‘’Wait, do you have a crush on Em?’’

She suddenly looks angry. Jaya is used to understanding Charlie’s moods, and she doesn’t know what’s going on. ‘’No? I just met her. I just wanted to tell you that I’m a lesbian and it seemed like a good excuse. I don’t even know if she’s pretty, I barely looked at her. I still don’t know her actual name.’’

‘’Okay,’’ Charlie says, but she still looks angry. ‘’I think I have to go.’'

She leaves before Jaya can say anything.

‘’Okay,’’ Jaya says to an empty room.

Charlie doesn’t even make noise when closing the door.

***

Next morning, in class, Jaya doesn’t know what to do. When she comes in, Charlie looks down, uncomfortable. Charlie has never been the kind of person to avoid confrontation about something that was making her mad, so Jaya doesn’t know what protocol she should follow. Does she go sit with someone who isn’t Charlie? Does she tell Charlie to stop being weird and go back to being friends? Jaya is not sure.

So Jaya just decides to be brave and walks straight up to Charlie. ‘’Are we talking today?’’

Charlie looks at her, kind of lost and really awkward. When she doesn’t say anything, Jaya turns around decidedly. She will sit with anyone else. Everyone will give them weird looks, because they know that they are inseparable, but—

‘’Yes!’’ Charlie says, fast, and Jaya sits on her usual seat, right next to her. ‘’Did you see last night’s game?’’ She adds, before Jaya can even begin to open her mouth to have an actual conversation.

‘’The Habs weren’t playing,’’ Jaya says. If Charlie doesn’t want to talk, she’s not going to make her. Or, well, she will make her, but maybe not five minutes before the teacher is supposed to arrive.

‘’The Sens were,’’ Charlie says.

‘’You only like the Sens so your dad will get mad.’’ It’s the truth. Mr. Lapointe somehow convinced Charlie to be a Habs fan since she was a little, but Charlie decided to stop a few months ago when she realized that he wouldn’t like it.

‘’My dad thinks that it’s great,’’ Charlie says, stubborn.

‘’Which one?’’ Jaya asks, and Charlie tries to push her out of her chair.

***

After practice, they spend most of the evening together, again. While they’re doing homework, Jaya doesn’t talk about being a lesbian, and Charlie doesn’t talk about what made her mad, and they’re okay. This time they are in Charlie’s house, so Jaya is afraid of trying to bring it up in case Charlie ends up screaming and her dads hear, but well. It’s not like they’re going to care.

‘’Do you have a problem with me being gay?’’ Jaya asks not long before she’s supposed to go back home for dinner. She wants to be able to run if it’s necessary, like Charlie did yesterday.

‘’What? Of course not.’’ Charlie is looking at her like she’s stupid, which should be hurtful, but just makes her feel relieved. ‘’My fathers are gay— well, my dad is gay, Pierre is— whatever, just. Why would I have a problem with it?’’

‘’You’re acting weird,’’ Jaya says. She can’t think of any reasons why Charlie would have a problem with it, which is why she’s so confused about this whole situation. ‘’Are you afraid of me falling in love with you or some stupid thing like that? Because—’’

‘’No! No, J, it’s not that. C’mon, you know me. I’m not afraid of anything—’’ Jaya snorts. ‘’And even if I were, which I’m not, don’t laugh, I wouldn’t be afraid of something like that.’’

‘’Then what is going on with you?’’

‘’I—’’ Charlie starts, then stops. Her whole face is red. ‘’Nothing, okay? I swear it’s nothing.’’

Jaya is going to tell her that she’s very obviously lying, but there’s a knock on the door.

‘’Come in!’’ Charlie says, fast. Jaya squints at her, because she usually just tells her fathers to yell whatever they want through the door. Jaya has known her for years, she knows what she’s doing.

Mr. Riley opens the door and looks at her, surprised. ‘’Oh, Jaya! I didn’t know that you were here. Dinner is ready, but there’s enough for one more. Are you staying?’’

‘’Thanks for the offer, Mr. Riley, but my parents are waiting for me.’’ Jaya gets up and picks up her things. ‘’I should get going!’’

‘’Jay—’’ Charlie starts.

‘’Good bye!’’ Jaya says before Charlie can say anything else, and leaves. She can hear Mr. Riley starting to ask Charlie if there’s something going on.

***

When she gets home, dinner is ready, so she eats and goes to her room immediately after. When she gets there, there’s a text already waiting for her, from Charlie.

_Char: you left before I could say good bye and now my dad thinks we’re weird_

Jaya snorts, because sometimes she can’t believe that she really is best friends with this girl, and texts back _you’re weird and I still don’t know why._

_Char: I’m not weird_

_Jaya: of course_

_Char: I was acting like I always act????_

_Jaya: every time you thought I was going to start talking about you leaving yesterday after I came out you started talking about hockey, how am I the weird one_

Charlie doesn’t even answer her text, but that’s okay. They’ll figure it out eventually.

***

The week passes, and they are normal, but painfully so. Charlie acts careful around her, but not ‘’I’m afraid that you are going to jump me’’ careful. It’s more of a ‘’if I say anything weird you will kick me because I’m not communicating with you and that makes you mad’’ careful.

They win their Saturday game. Jaya and Charlie did great, which means that Charlie is really happy and won’t stop talking about the game as Mr. Lapointe, who doesn’t have to work for once, drives them back home. And it’s good that she’s happy, because she had been mad that Mr. Riley couldn’t go see the game because he had to go somewhere with Leon.

‘’But did you see how great it was? It was a shut out! And—’’

‘’I saw, Charlotte.’’ Mr. Lapointe sounds amused by how Charlie is acting, but she has seen him screaming after they played an unfair game, so she’s not fooled. They’re all equally ridiculous about hockey. ‘’Jaya, are you staying for dinner?’’

Charlie speaks before Jaya can even begin to open her mouth. ‘’Yes she is, Pierre.’’

Mr. Lapointe is looking at the road, but Jaya knows that he just rolled his eyes.

***

‘’Hey, J, have you ever kissed a girl?’’ is the first thing that comes out of Charlie’s mouth once they’re in her room.

‘’What?’’ Jaya says, because it’s the first thing she thinks. She’s not processing. ‘’You know I haven’t.’’

Charlie stays quiet for a few seconds, then adds, ‘’Do you want to?’’

Jaya is confused. ‘’Are you going to try and find me a girlfriend? Because—’’

‘’No, no,’’ Charlie interrupts her. She gets up to sit on the bed next to Jaya, closer. ‘’I meant it like— me.’’

‘’Do I want to kiss you,’’ Jaya says, not believing her own ears. ‘’Char, you’re not gay.’’

‘’What do you know?’’ Charlie says, mad, but she seems to calm down in the next seconds, because she adds, ‘’Look, I just— do you want to try it?’’

Jaya sighs. ‘’Do you?''

Charlie nods. ‘’I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t want to.’’

Jaya is sure that Charlie actually has reasons to be doing this, but she doesn’t know what those reasons are. She has known her for years, enough to be sure that if Charlie wanted to find out if Jaya has a crush on her, she would just ask her and not do a whole thing out of making her kiss her. She’s at a loss, but she doesn’t mind her first kiss being with her best friend. Charlie’s pretty great, most of the time.

‘’Okay,’’ Jaya says.

Charlie looks up, surprised, like she didn’t actually expect Jaya do accept. ‘’Good! I mean— right. Yeah.’’

Jaya doesn’t answer, instead gets closer to her and waits until Charlie does the same. She does, and Jaya is the one to bring their lips together. It’s just a press of lips against lips, clumsy, neither of them really knowing what to do. It’s not— it’s not necessarily bad. It’s a peck, and it’s their first kiss, and that’s enough for Jaya, honestly.

They put a few centimeters of distance between them, spend a few seconds apart and go in for another kiss. It’s— slightly better, objectively. It’s still not magic, because they’re still awkward, and the only place where their bodies are touching is the lips, but it’s nice.

Charlie doesn’t think so, apparently, because when they break apart she’s frowning, and looks kind of sad, and— that’s bad. That’s definitely bad.

‘’What’s going on with you? Come on, Char, talk to me,’’ Jaya says, hugging her with just one arm.

‘’I can’t love you the right way,’’ Charlie says. It’s out of nowhere for Jaya, but it mustn’t be for Charlie, who seems to be really convinced of that she’s saying.

‘’There’s not a right way of loving me,’’ Jaya says.

‘’You are going to go off and fall in love with a girl and you’ll love her more than you love me and I can’t fall in love with you and—’’ Charlie is starting to talk really fast, and looks like she’s going to cry, so Jaya hugs her completely, pats her back a little awkwardly because she usually isn’t the one doing this part. Charlie isn’t one to have hurt feelings.

‘’Hey, hey, no. Okay? I won’t. I’m not going to fall in love with you, but that doesn’t make me love you any less, Char, we’re best friends,’’ Jaya says. ‘’If my parents punishing me without seeing you can’t keep us apart, I’m sure my future girlfriend won’t, either.’’

‘’You don’t know that,’’ Charlie says, sounding miserable.

‘’Yes I do. When you thought about our future before, did you think that if the two of us had boyfriends, they would keep us apart?’’

‘’Of course not. It’s not the same, though,’’ Charlie mumbles, and when Jaya asks for clarification, she doesn’t answer, just hides her face against Jaya’s neck and stays silent for a while. Jaya lets her, rubbing her back a little because it’s the only thing she can think of that might help.

They stop hugging after a while, but they stay close, stay in silence. When it’s time to have dinner, they let Leon’s talk fill the gaps in the times where they should be talking. Jaya can see Charlie’s dads sneaking glances to each other, like they’re trying to ask the other what is going on.

Jaya leaves, after dinner. Charlie looks at her, kind of hesitant, so Jaya hugs her again before she leaves.

***

Jaya waits until it’s time to go to bed before she texts Charlie, allowing her to have some time to just think and calm down a little bit.

_Jaya: are you doing better??_

She was kind of expecting that Charlie wouldn’t answer until the next morning, so she’s surprised when she sees the notification of a text.

_Char: yeah_

_Char: I kind of talked to Pierre, he tried to explain something to me_

_Jaya: stop calling your dad Pierre_

_Char: I don’t, I call my dad ‘dad’_

_Jaya: and stop with the cheesy jokes_

_Char: I’m sorry I was weird_

_Char: I know I kind of should tell you in person? But whatever. I should have told you what was going on_

_Jaya: I still don’t know what was going on??  but I’m glad you’re happier_

_Char: I felt like if you had a girlfriend I wouldn’t be the most important girl in your life_

_Char: I know it’s stupid. Pierre showed me the websites_

_Jaya: sometimes I can’t believe your father exists_

_Jaya: also you’re always going to be one of the most important people in my life? We’re best friends, you just were my first kiss. Come on, Char_

_Char: yeah you’re right._

_Char: also was that me being awfully straight or that kiss was kinda bad???_

_Jaya: look I am pretty gay and that was Not Good_   

**Author's Note:**

> as always, hi! this is me writing a fic of a pairing i don't even ship. why do i do these things to myself.  
> english is not my first language, so tell me if i fucked up somewhere?  
> leave a comment if you liked it, you can find me in idontreallylikebutterflies.tumblr.com in tumblr and thanks for reading!


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